Apple Airport Express | Wow! I had no idea it could do this!

Apple Airport Express | Airport Express is the right name for this product

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Apple Airport Express

	Apple Airport Express Apple Computer Apple Computer average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Now with blazing 802.11n, the affordable AirPort Express is powerful enough to run a home Wi-Fi network, yet small enough to take on the road. Share your wireless network with up to 10 users, print documents, photos, and more from any room in the house to one central printer, play iTunes music through your stereo or powered speakers using AirTunes, and more.

Wow! I had no idea it could do this!

I was looking to extend our wireless network (w/Time Machine as the base). As part of doing that, I discovered that this little unit can actually stream music to my nearby stereo, using my iPhone (or Macbook Pro) as the remote control! It took less than 10 minutes to extend my network AND get music (and Podcats) playing perfectly on our Onkyo receiver. The Airport Express shows up on my iPhone (using the free Remote application from Apple), and as a destination option from iTunes itself. I can even control the volume from the iPhone or iTunes. If I add another one of these puppies, I can have music in multiple rooms. Good to see that Apple really does put thought into their products. Good luck to Dell in theirs to play catch-up...

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Airport Express is the right name for this product

Having read some of the negative comments about this device, I was a bit doubtful of it but, went ahead and bought one regardless. Like so much of what goes with a Mac it works well ...like it's supposed to, and it was a breeze to install.
The only bump in the road was connecting a Vista based PC which, through some electronic hiccup, only connects to the LAN occasionally. Because the Mac is my main 'puter, the Vista PC connection problem is no big deal; besides, what else is new with Windoze?
The Airport Express is a good investment and one that I'm happy I made.

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Just what I needed, times 3

I use three of these boxes. I turned off the wifi on my ISP-provided router. I wired one of these boxes to the router and created a wireless-N network. Plug in a set of good computer speakers and suddenly I have a great wifi signal and iTunes music in the bedroom. The second box extends the wifi signal in the living room and is hooked to the stereo. Presto, iTunes in there, too. The last box provides the same benefits in the kitchen. Toss in Apple Remote on my iPhone and you have much of the functionality of a Sonos whole-house audio system at a fraction of the cost.

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Not like I had a choice...

I bought this product because I needed to get a wireless connection to my G5 Tower (across the house) that did not come with an airport extreme card (isn't compatible with the standard Extreme card). I would need to buy the Airport Extreme/ Bluetooth card for $140 and the "run away (runway?)" card for $40. Not going to happen.

I was sold on the Airport Express because it had an ethernet port, so I figured it would pick up the wireless signal from my Linksys WRT56G router and wire the Express to the G5. Also, the fact that I could print from it was cool because I have a Powerbook as well, being able to print from the laptop was a nice bonus. I also have a PC that was getting a weak signal from the Linksys router, so I figured this might help as it works as a repeater as well. All this for $100? not bad...

Here is where I ran into problems. I had a REALLY hard time getting the Express to work via ethernet with the G5. The guy at the Apple store said this would work. After a LOT of configuring, doing a lot of research, I was able to get it to work. Later on I was on the phone with Apple Care and I asked them if it should have been this hard to get working. They said that it should not work as the ethernet port is ONLY to connect to the Cable Modem, it is only supposed to receive the signal, not output it.

Somehow I was able to get it to do that. No problems since.

Then, for some reason I figured it would be a good idea to upgrade the firmware. BAD IDEA. It would connect to the internet for about 20 minutes, maybe less. Then it would lose connection to all the computers. I couldn't even change the settings with my powerbook, it would NOT recognize anything. I did the factory reset by pressing that small button with a pin. I would go through the whole set up again, and the cycle would continue. I had to go back to the first version of the firmware to get it working again.

Since I was using the Express with a Linksys router, the Apple Care people said they really couldn't help me trouble shoot because I wasn't using an Apple Base Station (I would if they were reasonably priced).

The documentation and instructions are very incomplete. There is nothing to help you trouble shoot the Express, and there is nothing to explain the different Wireless options available.. I could go on and on.. Since Linksys doesn't make OSX friendly drivers, and because I don't want to spend almost $200 on a wireless card for my G5, I'm stuck with the Express.

The Express would NOT work when I set it to act as a repeater using WDS, again, no info on how to configure. I set it to "Join an existing Network"
and with addition tweaking, it is sending the signal to my G5 via the ethernet port. But is it also sending the signal wirelessly as well? Why isn't my PC picking up its signal? (network security isnt the prob, that is fine).

I would say I am a "techie" person, I am always able to get computer related things set up and working, I built my own PC, so I should be able to trouble shoot this thing with little effort.

I'm a big fan of Apple, but the fact they make expensive networking products that only work if you use them only with other Apple products is a joke.

Final word is: This is ONLY a good product if you are using it as a portable router or have an Airport Base Station and your computers already have everything they need to receive a wireless signal.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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